Port Ginesta, Spain (27 October 2017) – An unending parade of reporters, racers, and prospective ownersbecame acquainted with the leading edge in sailing technology this month with the all-new TF10 foilingtrimaran, the first sailing boat in history designed from the ground up to provide an exhilarating yetunintimidating flying experience to sailors of all skill levels.

Thanks to an ingenious combination of Z-Foil Technology and electronic foil control, the TF10 replicatesmuch of the performance of a modern foiling America’s Cup boat but without the crashes, flips, or powerrequirements: The 36-foot long racing sailboat is versatile and exciting in all weather, easily sailing at 2-3times the wind speed in lighter air and comfortably flying along at 25-30 knots in stiffer breeze.

Designed by Southern California-based Morrelli & Melvin, the same team behind both the first foilingmultihull (Team New Zealand’s AC72 Aotearoa) and the foiling Olympic catamaran, the TF10 wascommissioned by a group of Newport, Rhode Island-based sailing enthusiasts looking for somethingentirely different.

“As a group, we knew we wanted something that pushed the boundaries of what is possible in foiling boatdesign, and it looks like the designers and builders have created something completely unique andexceptional,” said Dr. Malcolm Gefter, owner of Hull # 1 and the driving force behind the new boat andclass. Dr. Gefter explained that he and rest of the TF-10’s first owners are all experienced racers trying tocreate a class with state-of-the-art performance but without the kind of “arms race” and cost escalationfrom which most grand prix sailing classes suffer.

Netherlands-based builder DNA Performance Sailing conducted two valuable weeks of sailing and seatrials along Spain’s Costa Brava, assisted by multiple catamaran racing World Champion and DNA advisorMischa Heemskerk , who said the learning curve was ‘steep but manageable.’ “We’ve had dozens ofpeople steering and crewing the boat here in 14 days, and not a single person got off the boat without abig smile on their face,” said Heemskerk, referring to not only potential customers, but also the journalistjudges who came specifically to Spain to test the TF10 and several other yachts nominated for theprestigious European Yacht of the Year competition. “A number of the journalists seemed uncomfortableat first, going from the other champagne-filled charter yachts to our little speed racer, but after a fewminutes behind the tiller, we couldn’t get them to put it down!” he said.

As the testing period entered its final phase on Wednesday morning, a perfect Northerly breeze rolled in.Led by Heemskerk at the helm, the full crew immediately set off for another session, this time withSpanish yachting photographer Tomàs Moya in tow. With a crew of experienced sailors aboard the racingyacht and for the first time, no guests, crew continued to test new settings without drama. The boat easilyaccelerated past 25 knots in the quiet, flat water - a perfect beginning to a day scheduled for the newowner’s first sail since the boat was splashed in Holland early this summer. Just minutes into the sail, aloud “Bang” announced that the day wasn’t as perfect as they’d hoped: the high-modulus carbon fibermast crumpled to the deck immediately, breaking in parts on the way down.

A-Class and F-18 catamaran world champion Heemskerk is no stranger to dismastings, especially withhis extensive work on the fastest and most modern of foiling boats, but he was surprised to see the mastlet go in such light air. “It seems we may be quite a bit faster than the simulations predicted, whichmeans we could be developing too much power for the mast design,” said the Dutch racer, who saidbreakages have been an important part of the development of all foiling boats – especially the big ones.“Foiling in big yachts has only been possible for a few short years, so sea and sail trials are an extremelyimportant tool to find the weak links in these cutting-edge designs,” he said.

Heemskerk said the yacht’s designers and builders are already investigating the breakage to determinewhat modifications are needed before the production run gets fully underway, and they’re confident thefix isn’t complicated. “The silver lining here is that we had a great month of sailing with a respectableshowing for the Yacht of the Year competition, we learned a ton about the boat, and aside from the mastand a couple of insignificant bits and pieces, the boat performed flawlessly,” said Heemskerk.

As a longtime research scientist and pharmaceutical inventor, Gefter knows firsthand the tough road thatinnovation can require, and the former Professor of Biochemistry Emeritus at MIT was introspectivewhen he saw the topless racing machine sitting at the dock. “The first of what my students used to call‘Gefter’s Laws’ may apply here: If an experiment comes up with exactly what the result you wanted on thefirst try, you will never be able to replicate that experiment again,” said the former professor, adding that“We wanted to change this sport, which is why we picked designers and a builder who truly understandhow to push the envelope, and if it doesn’t break in the experimental phase, you just are not tryingenough.”

Dr. Gefter said he was pleased the team was working so hard to identify any issues, and that he wasconfident the boat would ready to race in South Florida over the coming winter.Photos rights free for editorial use with credit: Tomàs Moya/DNA Performance Sailing.

Full specs on the TF10 as well as other DNA Performance Sailing products here.For media or sales information, contact: Thijs van Riemsdijk, [email protected], +31320281877Sign up for the TF10 Newsletter here: https://www.tf10class.com